very confused about reaper mode, is there one spot I can go for info?

[Bolo_Grubb]

Does xp and gear from reaper mode apply to regular difficulties? or only reaper mode?

Is Reaper mode the new elite?

Is it going to widen the gap between power gamers and casual players?

[Elfishski]

Does xp and gear from reaper mode apply to regular difficulties? or only reaper mode?

Is Reaper mode the new elite?

Is it going to widen the gap between power gamers and casual players?

Gear from reaper mode can be used in regular difficulties (+melee/ranged power and +prr/mrr, +2 all stats from helm)

Reaper xp trees give some fairly modest bonuses in regular difficulties (like having another few past lives), but most reaper tree stuff only applies in reaper quests.

It is my firm opinion that with the trees Reaper will be the new elite and the majority of lfms will be for reaper difficulty, but we'll have to wait and see.

These trees will definitely widen the gap between power games and casual players. I think if you're a casual player then there's no way you'll be able to contribute meaningfully in a reaper group with power gamers other than hiding in a corner and using resurrect scrolls as necessary. For people who aren't already at the top of the power curve it's a matter of accepting it will be impossible to ever catch up and that we should just enjoy the game that's available to us while trying to find other people who are at the same level.

[kemetka]

Gear from reaper mode can be used in regular difficulties (+melee/ranged power and +prr/mrr, +2 all stats from helm)

Reaper xp trees give some fairly modest bonuses in regular difficulties (like having another few past lives), but most reaper tree stuff only applies in reaper quests.

It is my firm opinion that with the trees Reaper will be the new elite and the majority of lfms will be for reaper difficulty, but we'll have to wait and see.

These trees will definitely widen the gap between power games and casual players. I think if you're a casual player then there's no way you'll be able to contribute meaningfully in a reaper group with power gamers other than hiding in a corner and using resurrect scrolls as necessary. For people who aren't already at the top of the power curve it's a matter of accepting it will be impossible to ever catch up and that we should just enjoy the game that's available to us while trying to find other people who are at the same level.

respectfully disagreeing with the last bit.
Reaper mode is meant as a challenge mode, noone is entitled to, or forced to run content on reaper, however this does not mean that they wont. Alot of long term players wanted a new difficulty, which is what they have provided in the form of a numeric system whereby you choose the difficulty upon entering the quest in the form of 1-10 skulls. My personal experience is that 1 skull reaper = elite in most ways, the only difference being that your incoming healing, and outgoing damage from all sources is reduced slightly. As this is the case then I do believe that 1 skull reaper will be the new elite, there is no practical reason for it not to be considering the first time completion bonus on reaper - which i dont think is a good idea, but im not going to complain about free ****.

If you are a casual player and you can manage elite fairly well on your own or with a hireling, then reaper 1 skull will do ya just fine, and you dont have to worry about what the people on the forums, or in game will tell you. If elite provides you with a challenge, then reaper 1 skull will up the challenge slightly, but not in a way that makes it unplayable. Personally I think alot of people are overreacting to the reaper changes.

[Elfishski]

If you are a casual player and you can manage elite fairly well on your own or with a hireling, then reaper 1 skull will do ya just fine, and you dont have to worry about what the people on the forums, or in game will tell you. If elite provides you with a challenge, then reaper 1 skull will up the challenge slightly, but not in a way that makes it unplayable.

I totally agree with this! I've tried a little reaper on lamannia and it is just one step up from elite, it's far from impossible to a casual player, and anyone playing elite will be fine and people who like a bit of unpredictability and sometimes getting killed will really enjoy reaper 1 skull I think. To the OP: try reaper for yourself when it goes live rather than letting me discourage you

What I was saying in the last paragraph is that a maxed out powergamer playing reaper with all the trees (and gear that mostly has +3-6 more prr/mrr power) as well as the 30 extra past lives they already have, will be so far ahead of the casual player, that the casual player might as well pike at the quest entrance. This is almost the case already on live, but the extra buffs will extend the power gap by another order of magnitude. I don't think that's debatable or an exaggeration with more than double HP, +10DCs if not adjusted, large other boosts to defence and damage.

As long as powergamers find only powergamers to play with on 5-8 skulls, and brave casuals find only other brave casuals to play with on 1-2 skulls, everyone can be very happy with the update.

[dunklezhan]

respectfully disagreeing with the last bit.
Reaper mode is meant as a challenge mode, noone is entitled to, or forced to run content on reaper, however this does not mean that they wont. Alot of long term players wanted a new difficulty, which is what they have provided in the form of a numeric system whereby you choose the difficulty upon entering the quest in the form of 1-10 skulls. My personal experience is that 1 skull reaper = elite in most ways, the only difference being that your incoming healing, and outgoing damage from all sources is reduced slightly. As this is the case then I do believe that 1 skull reaper will be the new elite, there is no practical reason for it not to be considering the first time completion bonus on reaper - which i dont think is a good idea, but im not going to complain about free ****.

If you are a casual player and you can manage elite fairly well on your own or with a hireling, then reaper 1 skull will do ya just fine, and you dont have to worry about what the people on the forums, or in game will tell you. If elite provides you with a challenge, then reaper 1 skull will up the challenge slightly, but not in a way that makes it unplayable. Personally I think alot of people are overreacting to the reaper changes.

Interesting assessment. I can play heroic elite solo/hire with no trouble except a few specific (and generally more recent quests, or obviously those quests where a group is really just the best way for sanity, like Crucible), but I definitely can't handle EE at all without a group, even quite far overlevel.

So my question would be - does your 1 skull assessment hold true for heroic elite or were you talking about 1 skull reaper compared to an EE power level?

[kemetka]

Interesting assessment. I can play heroic elite solo/hire with no trouble except a few specific (and generally more recent quests, or obviously those quests where a group is really just the best way for sanity, like Crucible), but I definitely can't handle EE at all without a group, even quite far overlevel.

So my question would be - does your 1 skull assessment hold true for heroic elite or were you talking about 1 skull reaper compared to an EE power level?

Actually I did all my testing in heroics at level 8, 9, and 10. Here was my general reaction :
1 skull > no noticeable change, took me a while to notice my outgoing damage was doing slighly less.
2 skull > small change in damage, didnt take enough damage to warrant testing healing.
3 skull > noticed that my outgoing damage was lessend and incoming healing was lessened.
4 skull > didnt try it
5 skull > started to get my attention as vaguely difficult. Due to the sever limitations on outgoing damage and incoming healing at 5 skull I did not advance past this for serious testing. heal scroll only gave me 46 hit points, and fast healing epic stance only gave me 12 ( 3 ticks of 4hp )

START EDIT :
6-9 skull > did not try
10 skull > best analogy - you have entered butchers path on casual, except you are the kobolds and the NPCs are the player characters.

All of my serious testing was done in ToEE and Slave Lords series, as these are quests that can still provide some form of challenge at level.
END EDIT :

I would like to **DISCLAIMER** this though, I only did my testing on warlock a couple of reasons for this :
1. It has the highest breadth of abilities and play styles available in the game, as such I could test several different ways about doing reaper
2. It is the least gear intensive class in the game especially at heroics ( I was playing on a half naked character using nothing but generic - non set - named items from the slave lords series )
3. Warlocks have the ability to take a hit or 3 which allowed me to see what it would be like to get hit in reaper and how many it would take for me to go down.